Karnataka has taken the initiative to cap 13,509 abandoned borewells, thus taking a concrete step to 'prevent' accidents of children falling in them.
In fact, I filed a PIL in Supreme Court of India (SCI) in 2009 (36 of 2009, Writ Petition Civil), & the SCI gave detailed orders in Feb 2010. One of its major recommendation was to carry out total census of wells that are functional or defunct, and take steps to cap all those defunct ones.
I have also put forth an innovative idea of 'converting abandoned borewells as recharge wells' which is being adopted by hundreds of farmers in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh as well as in some other States. For more details, please view the link www.cwsy.org/sugwm.
Even if 5000 such abandoned wells (having potential to recharge) are converted as recharge wells by devising a special loan-cum-grant scheme, farmers and children, both can benefit immensely. I have put my suggestions forward to the Minister of Rural Development.
Are there organisations and individuals who work in this field, any who would be interested to pursue this idea of converting some potential wells as recharge structures with the Ministry?
Thanks
Rama Mohan